Skokie wants cabs to park it elsewhere

Courtney Flynn, Tribune staff reporterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Taxi driver A.J. Memon doesn't have a garage so he often parks his cab on the street in front of his Skokie home.

But one person's livelihood, or hobby, can be another's eyesore, and complaints from residents were one factor that prompted Skokie to propose a ban on parking taxis on residential streets -- another in a long list of attempts by Chicago and myriad suburbs to regulate what residents can park and where they can park it.

Wauconda in 2005 considered banning boats, campers and snowmobiles in driveways or yards, after Mayor Sal Saccomanno said the vehicles made Wauconda look like a "hick" community. He later apologized.

That same year, Glenview lifted a ban on parking sport-utility vehicles on side streets and driveways, but the town continues to prohibit commercial vehicles from parking on residential streets after normal business hours. Palos Heights in 2002 sought to ban large commercial trucks from driveways.

Chicago prohibits all commercial vehicles, including taxis, from parking on residential streets, though a quick trip through some neighborhoods suggests enforcement may be less than consistent.

More than a dozen other communities in the Chicago area in some way regulate parking for taxis and other commercial vehicles, officials said.

"There's certainly more [neighborhood] regulation overall -- everything from landscaping to what kinds of cars you can have, where you can store stuff," said Lane Kendig, a former Lake County planning official who started his own land-planning firm.

The debate over banning street parking for taxi drivers -- an occupation that attracts many immigrants -- may have special resonance in Skokie, a suburb of more than 60,000 known for its wide ethnic diversity.

Memon, 34, said the rule isn't fair to taxi drivers who have nowhere else to park.

"If I'm living here, I should be able to park here," he said. "What if somebody doesn't have a driveway or a garage? Where are they going to park?"

"What residents have said is that they think the markings on taxicabs and other commercial vehicles detract from the aesthetics of the neighborhoods," said Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen. "We don't have billboards in our neighborhoods, and these are kind of traveling billboards, if you will."

Village trustees later this month are expected to vote on the change to the ordinance. Skokie likely would spend a couple of months notifying drivers about the change, if it is approved, and a couple more months handing out warnings before issuing $35 parking citations to violators beginning in January, said Assistant Village Manager John Lockerby.

Skokie currently allows one cab to park on each residential block, a measure officials say has been difficult to enforce, has prompted complaints from neighbors and is not in line with another longtime ordinance that bans other commercial vehicles from parking in residential areas. Officials say cabs should not be treated differently from limousines, landscaping trucks and delivery vans.

All commercial vehicles, including taxis, already are banned from being parked in driveways.

"What we're trying to do is simply get commercial vehicles off the streets," Van Dusen said. "We've spent a great deal trying to improve the aesthetics of the community -- it's kind of part and parcel with a larger beautification of the community."

Longtime resident Dick Welsch said taxis parked along the streets in his central Skokie neighborhood might bring down property values and no commercial vehicles are appropriate in residential areas.

"That's just not what I want -- this is residential," Welsch said. "If I wanted to live in a business district, I'd move there."

Resident Edith Jasser said all commercial vehicles, including taxis, should be subject to the same rules, and drivers of those vehicles should find a garage or parking space in a commercial area, especially overnight.

"Taxis are not particularly pretty, but for me it's any commercial vehicle on residential streets" that should not be allowed to park, she said.

But some taxi drivers and cab companies say drivers who live in Skokie should be able to park on the street near their homes.

"Where are they supposed to park their cab?" said Mike Decker, general manager of Norshore Cab. "If they are paying the same taxes as everyone else, they should have the same rights as everyone else."

Jim Buer, a sales marketing representative for American Taxi, said an all-hours parking ban would be a burden on drivers whose sole vehicle is their cab.

"They use it to go to doctor's appointments, grocery stores, out to eat -- the normal activities of the day," Buer said. "For [Skokie] to prevent them from doing their normal household duties, it's going to be hard for them."

Don Hermanson, who was waiting to pick up fares at the Skokie Swift stop last week, said the change wouldn't affect him because he doesn't live in Skokie. But he agreed the proposed regulation could create hardship for other drivers.

"Now they're going to have to scare up somewhere to park," said Hermanson, who has been driving a cab for 40 years. "It's tough."

But Skokie officials said residents who have other commercial vehicles already are not allowed to park along neighborhood streets; why should taxis be exempt?

"The intent is not to cause a burden on a taxicab driver," Lockerby said. "The intent is to resolve an enforcement issue and then to treat commercial vehicles in a similar manner."